Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Sunday sacked the country's 31-member cabinet and appointed a new prime minister who will form a smaller government to tackle a growing economic crisis in the African country.

Sudan's central bank Sunday announced it will devalue the local currency to 30 Sudanese pounds against the U.S. dollar, the second such move in weeks amid soaring inflation.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir sacked his powerful, hardline army chief Paul Malong on Tuesday, a government spokesman said.

A former army general and top aide to President Omar al-Bashir was sworn in Thursday as Sudan's first prime minister since the post was scrapped in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday rejected a U.S.-drafted resolution on imposing an arms embargo and sanctions on South Sudan, now in its fourth year of war.

The measure garnered only seven votes in favor in the 15-member council, while eight countries including Russia, China and Japan abstained. 

Dozens of health facilities supported by the World Health Organization in strife-torn areas of Sudan risk closure due to a lack of funds, exposing one million people to likely epidemics.

The UN Security Council on Thursday decided to extend for one day the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan to allow more time for negotiations on a new measure to bolster its mandate. 

Talks on a US-drafted text have been bogged down for nearly a week over provisions on sanctions, the deployment of drones and UN support for a new war crimes court set up by the African Union.

At least 56 rebels and four government troops were killed in heavy weekend clashes in northeastern South Sudan, in a worrying surge of violence in the world's youngest nation.

Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesman Brigadier General Lul Ruai Koang said Monday that rebels aligned with former vice president Riek Machar attacked government troops near the country's second largest city of Malakal.

President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday declared that peace had returned to Sudan's war-torn Darfur despite a deadlock in African Union-brokered ceasefire talks and persistent fighting that has driven thousands from their homes this year.

Washington has warned that those who perpetrate atrocities in South Sudan's civil war will be held responsible for their crimes.

The United States served as a midwife in the creation of the South Sudan, formed in July 2011 by partitioning Sudan.